Great Rock Albums of 1983: Doc Holliday- Modern Medicine

Here’s another reason why I was glad that I spent my final three months in the marines down south. Nantucket headlined the Mayfair Festival that great day in May, 1983 and were fantastic but the band on right before them was just as good. On that day, Doc Holliday reinforced what I have always loved and continue to love about Southern Rock. If I hadn’t been there, I would have missed them because like I said previously, many people up North had moved on from Southern Rock in 1983. That is why my only album experience of Doc Holliday to this day was their 1983 “Modern Medicine” album.

The band being from Atlanta, Georgia, their album has all the trademarks of all things good about Southern Rock but that doesn’t stop Doc Holliday from putting their own personal stamp on things. All of the above is evidenced in the very first song on the album, “City Nights.” The keyboard at the beginning rams home the ‘these guys are a bit different’ feeling before quickly going into more harder southern boogie guitar work complimented by typical Southern lyrics about partying and getting drunk. “City Nights” sets the rest of the album perfectly.

Other songs go a bit harder after that for most of the songs. “Rock City,” “Hell to Pay,” “Gimme Some” and “No Relation to Love” are all hard rocking scorchers. But if you are looking for ballads, then “You Don’t Have to Cry” fills that bill very nicely. It’s a good Southern love song with some rather impressive guitar work. It provides a kind of break in the action between all the harder songs mentioned above so it’s not out of place. “You Turn Me On” sounds almost like a 1970s funk tune but Doc Holliday pull it off perfectly. It is my conclusion that those damn Yankees up North shouldn’t have been so quick to abandon Southern Rock because many of them missed out on one hell of a band.

Track Listing:

City Nights

Dreamin’

Gimme Some

You Don’t Have to Cry

Rock City

Hell to Pay

No Relation to Love

You Turn Me On

We’re Not Alone

You Like to Rock

Doc Holliday

Ric Skelton- guitar

Bruce Brookshire- lead vocals, lead and slide guitar, synths

Eddie Stone- synths, piano, backing vocals

John Samuelson- bass, backing vocals

Herman Nixon- drums

Thank God that in 1983 I got to go to the Mayfair Festival and witness this band. If I hadn’t, I would not have experienced the “Modern Medicine” album because Doc Holliday’s fame never spread to New Jersey. That is a shame but at least I got to hear them and can tell you how great they were and hopefully, you will give them a listen on Youtube.

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